Private Personal Student Loans: Advantages and Disadvantages
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on July 5, 2008 by Bongski in Private College Loans
As a wise student borrower, you should definitely try and exhaust all the possible options for government financial loans before you finally place your attention on the next possible kind of loan, which is the private or alternative loan.
Federal loans, as it is, almost always only partially cover the tuition and other school expenses. And therefore, because of the gap that such loans leave, the private personal student loans are the ones that fill it in. And it has indeed become a very lucrative market, albeit it is necessary for borrowers like you to find the best private student loans.
As in any other types of loans, the private personal student loans have advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages:
Especially with the best private student loans, 100% of the education costs and expenses can be covered.
Not all interest rates are high - some lenders let borrowers enjoy lower rates.
Low rates of private personal student loans are especially available if the college provides certification of enrollment and the loan check is addressed to the college.
FAFSA completion is not a requirement
Disadvantages:
Such loans, especially the best private student loans, are actually subject to extensive credit background checking. Your credit report will help the company decide of your application is approved or not. The amount of your interest rate is also dependent on your credit history.
The interest rate of the loan is variable and can increase during the duration of the private personal student loans.
It does not include the option to defer.
Federal Student Loan Consolidation: Simple but Important Facts
[ No Comments ]Posted on July 3, 2008 by Bongski in Student Loan Consolidation
What is Federal student loan consolidation? This is a consolidation program designed to assist students and parents in simplifying their many types of federal student loans having all types of repayment schemes by merging them into a single loan.
When you consolidate federal student loans, in effect you get a new scheme of repayment as you now deal with a new loan. Payments will be just a single one every month. What’s more, the interest rate of the new loan will most probably lower than any of the interest rates of your previous government college loans. Even if you are in loan default, you can still be eligible for federal student loan consolidation provided specific requirements are satisfied.
The interest rate for federal student loan consolidation is fixed during the entire repayment period. By the way, how do they arrive at the interest rate of the new loan? This fixed interest rate is actually based on the average of the rates on the previous loans – rounded to the nearest 1/8 of a percent.
Who can consolidate federal student loans? If you have government funded loans, you can apply for consolidation once you started the repayment or during loan deferment or even forbearance.
You can enter all types of government loan under federal consolidation. It is best that you inquire from the loan advisor regarding the list of eligible federal loans. You can either have a subsidized or unsubsidized loan consolidation; this depends on the types of government debts that you wish to consolidate.
Federal Direct Student Loans: Available for Nursing College Students
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on July 1, 2008 by Bongski in Uncategorized
Federal direct student loans for nursing students are funds that come directly from the Department of Education or US government itself. If you feel you need financial aid, you can finance your nursing college degree by getting federal student loans from the state university or college of your choice. Any nursing college or school that is on the list of participants of Federal direct student loans programs can also be a source of funding.
Government student loans intended for your nursing school can either by a subsidized loan or otherwise. There is a major marked difference between the two; the former can be obtained based on the financial needs of the student. In this case, the interest is on deferment whether or not the student is on full enrollment. In the case of unsubsidized loans, the interest piles up from loan disbursement until repayment is full.
On the other hand, if you are parent with children in college who are taking up nursing course, then you can apply for student loans for nursing school tuition such as PLUS loans and Federal Direct Parent Loan. However, such loans need the credit history of the parents, and such history must show good or decent credit report.
On Interests and Student Loan Deferment
[ No Comments ]Posted on June 29, 2008 by Bongski in Loan Deferment
College life can be hard on you, especially when it comes to your life’s financial aspect. There will certainly times when cash is difficult to come by and repayment of your existing student loans cannot be done.
Student loan deferment permits you to discontinue making payments on your college loan, albeit if only temporary. If indeed you intend to apply for deferment of your student loans, you need to communicate with your loan provider and request immediately for deferment.
However, interests on your loans will continue to accrue even if your loans are in deferment. The good news is that if you have subsidized student loans such as Perkins and Stafford loans, all interests that add up during the period when you deferred your payments will be shouldered by the federal government. However, the only interest that you need to pay is one that is PLUS loans, and unsubscribed federal education loans.
Your only responsibility is to pay for the interest charge on loans that are unsubsidized. With unsubsidized loans wherein you are allowed not to continue payments while in period of deferment, their loan interests proceed to add up, while the not-yet-paid interests are added to the main loan balance that you will need to pay once you get back to the repayment process.
Trying to Apply for Bad Credit Student Loans?
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on June 27, 2008 by Bongski in Bad Credit Student Loans
Bad credit student loans are possible even if you are applying for one from private financial institutions. Credit union and private and commercial banks value the country’s studentry and therefore they do cater to the student’s financial needs.
College loans from banks, which are more known as private student loans is called as such because the government and federal agencies do not deal with them. And because of this, such private student loans have laid out their own strict requirements for application.
When it comes to bad credit college loans, the particular credit union or bank has to examine the credit history of the applicant once the later expresses his desire to apply for bad credit student loans. Most of the private lending companies actually offer such type of loans, and so such credit checking and investigation is not for either approval or denial of the application. Rather, the credit investigation is only a means to determine the amount of risk involved once a borrower is approved of his bad credit student loans.
And it also depends on the seriousness of the borrower’s bad credit if the student loan’s interest rates will be much higher or just comparable to other normal loans.
Sallie Mae Student Loan: Trusted Federal Loans Institution
[ No Comments ]Posted on June 25, 2008 by Bongski in Federal Student Loans
Sallie Mae Loans is a lending company than works with federal student loan applications. Such loans are expected to be having favorable conditions and terms than the private loans as the former are given by the federal or government financial agencies.
Sallie Mae student loans are actually options of combined loans, and the student is appropriately matched with the loan the suit his needs.
One of the more common Sallie Mae loans is the Federal Stafford loans; this the most in-demand type of student aid today. Stafford loans offer an enticing fixed rate of really low interest, making them the most convenient type for undergraduate college students.
To be able to have your application for this Sallie Mae student loan approved, the student must be enrolled and attending actively a school under the company’s accreditation at least half the time.
Generally, these federal student loans are easy to apply for and fast in its approval. Most loan companies in fact recommended to student borrowers that they apply for the Federal Stafford Loans first.
Bad Credit Student Loans: Ray of Hope for Prospective Borrowers
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on June 25, 2008 by Bongski in Bad Credit Student Loans
Are you a student who’s problematic with no decent credit that might be a hindrance to your pursuit of a college education? Student loans with desirable interest rates are easy to be had if you own good credit rating. On the other hand, those without one still have hope as they can still apply for bad credit student loans.
Yes, student loans for students with bad credit are also possible. One way to be approved of student loans with bad credit is via the Stafford loans. This is even when you don’t have any credit at all to present together with your application.
Perkins loans are especially meant to cater to student that are financially needing and own a bad credit. The only time when bad credit would be considered a problem with regards to its application is when the prospective student borrower committed default on previous federal student loans.
Bad credit student loans can be considered and approved if the parents of the borrower possess better credit rating than him; in which case, he will have to go for Plus Loan. The US Education Agency assumes that the student’s parents will share with the responsibility of the debt repayment.
Federal means is ideal for student loans with bad credit application because they are intended to make college education accessible despite the credit handicap. Their requirements are easier to accomplish than if you are getting loan from private institutions and banks.
Private Student Loans: Compliments the Federal Type
[ 3 Comments ]Posted on June 24, 2008 by Bongski in Private College Loans
What exactly are private student loans? Normally, students get their school monetary aid thru a grant, study programs or federal student loans. However, because of today’s exorbitant school financial costs and expenses, such normal financial avenues are not anymore enough to pay for all these expenses.
More often than not, there are still expenses that need to be met. If the student does not own any savings account or even a credit card, how can he take care of the remaining financial responsibilities? And so, here is where private student loans come in. Also known by the term alternative loan, it is so-called because it compliments the usual financial sources such as the government college loans.
Private student loans are great solution because they are much easier to obtain unlike their federal counterparts. While the latter usually gets process for a much longer time, weeks or even months, private loans are easier to be obtained as the processing time is short and disbursement is usually within days.
Likewise, federal student loans are very strict when it comes to the disbursement of money, meaning the money should go where it is allotted. On the other hand, private student loans can be used on various college expenses, such as board and lodging, transportation and living allowance.
Government-Backed Federal Student Loans
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on June 21, 2008 by Bongski in Federal Student Loans
Not all loans are the same, for as we all know, we have two major kinds of student loans. It’s unfortunate that few prospective college student borrowers are able to realize such fact. More often than not, many ends up unwittingly into some expensive private financial institutions that offer unrealistic loans instead of going to government agencies that may help you obtain inexpensive federal student loans.
The US government willingly backs college loans, of course, with attached responsibilities from the borrowers. Such responsibilities concern obeying rules from the lenders such as the standard fees and interests that they can charge you for the federal student loans.
If in case you are able to get private student loans, you might be burdened with interest rates that will certainly hurt your financial status as you begin repayment after your graduation from college. It is certainly a difficult stage especially if you are someone fresh out of school and trying to obtain properties and start your own family.
The aid section of your prospective university or college can help you in obtaining the right federal government student loans. Such people are professional loan advisers who work on the issue regularly. They even can help you fill up your form as you apply for your federal guaranteed student loans. Application forms can be very confusing and so they can be of great help with you need to successfully accomplish them.
One advantage of federal student loans is that you are given a grace period of a few months after graduation before you are required to start with your repayment. There are rules and regulation on these types of federal government student loans, perhaps, you might be in a situation that might allow you to defer repayment for the meantime such as returning to school, losing employment or lack of cash. While deferment is indeed possible, it is best to avoid committing it as interest piles up when you don’t make any payments.
Two Kinds of Loans Available for Students Today
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on June 20, 2008 by Bongski in Student Loans: Basic
There are basically two major kinds of loans that are available for college students; these are the private student loans and the government loans.
Federal Student Loans
Federal loans are initially under the management of the Government Student Aid programs. These aid programs actually are mainly in the form of student grants, work-study programs and loans. Stafford loans are one of the most common types of federal student loans. Other types of federal loans are in the form of military plans.
Private College Loans
Private loans are under the management of financial institutions and establishments, such as the Sallie Mae student loans and also that of the Citibank type. Such credit providers are supporters of unsecured loans to college students. They are likewise authorized to charge high rates of interest.
You can acquire both types – at the same time
You can have both federal and private loans in order to fully finance your college studies. But then of course, it is advisable to exhaust all means to acquire the federal type as they have a much lower interest rate. Then, you can further complement your acquired federal aid with private loans. This is the reason why the latter is often called the alternative loans.
Consolidate Separately
Student debt loan consolidation is done when the borrower is burdened too much with so many acquired loans. The process makes repayment easier and more manageable for the student. However, there is what we call a federal student loan consolidation and the private version – they are both merged separately as two groups. Again, federal debts are consolidated as one distinct group because they have a lower rate of interest, which the borrower will not be able to take advantage of when both federal and private loans are attempted to be consolidated to together.